Avocado tree-Schiller

ABSTRACT

A new variety of avocado tree of the Mexican group. This new variety is distinctive in that the fruit ripens early for a Mexican group avocado tree. The new variety produces fruit which is larger and more oval than fruit from other Mexican varieties and which has light green skin on maturity, as compared to other Mexican varieties whose skins turn purple.

DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW VARIETY

This invention relates to a new variety of avocado tree, which is of thespecies Persea americane, falling within the group of Mexican avocados,grown from seed in the orchard of Kibbutz Kvutsat Schiller, Israel. Thecharacteristics hereafter described will be such as have been observedin trees grown in that geographical region.

The new variety was asexually reproduced by grafting onto rootstockNahalat 9 as well as onto rootstock of itself. The characteristics ofthe new variety are reproduced in stock similarly grafted or graftedonto any other suitable avocado root stock. The new variety is usefulboth for providing fresh fruit for consumption and as rootstock.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings illustrate typical fruit and foliage of the new variety.

THE TREE

The avocado tree, whose proposed denomination is "Schiller", is of theerect-wide growth type. It has an erect trunk with branches spreadingoutward and upward. During three years of study, it has been found thatthe variety is productive but the trees are somewhat irregular bearers,in that the yield of fruit varies from year to year.

The bark of the tree is smooth and without cracks.

FOLIAGE

The young shoot of the tree has a leaf which is green-brown in color andhas many red lenticels on its branch. There is no pigment in the youngleaf. The mature leaf has a dark green upper side, about Yellow GreenGroup 147 A in The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, similar tothat of the Etinger and Fuerta varieties, and a strong anise fragrance.

The blade of the leaf is of medium length and narrow width as comparedwith leaves of other Mexican varieties. It has a base which describes aright or obtuse angle and a distal portion describing an acute angle. Alengthwise cross section of the leaf blade is concave in shape, and awidthwise cross section is flat in shape. The margin of the leaf hassome waviness.

The tree begins to flower in mid-February and its blooming season endsabout mid-April. This flowering time is earlier than most varieties,including the Fuerta variety which, itself, flowers relatively early,and flowering is of medium duration, i.e., about two months. Theintensity of flowering is intermediate, as compared with the Fuertavariety.

The peduncle is short compared with the Etinger variety, i.e., less than5 cm. in length. The flowers fall into the "B" group which open on oneafternoon as female flowers (i.e., with a mature pistil) and open againas masculine flowers (i.e., with mature stamens) in the morning two dayslater.

FRUIT

The tree sets fruit beginning in February and extending through April.The fruit is ripe for picking from the middle of September through themiddle of October. Ripe for picking as used herein means edible, whichis generally at the time when the oil content of the avocado reachesapproximately 8%. It is a particular feature of the present variety ofavocado that its fruit both appears and ripens relatively rapidly. Thus,a relatively short time is required between blossoming of the flowersand harvesting of the fruit. In Israel, for example, six months afterflowering, the fruit is mature for picking. This is two weeks earlierthan other early commercial varieties in the same geographical area.

The avocado fruit produced is generally oval without a pronounced neck,that is, rounded at the base and narrowing slightly towards the stem. Itis of medium length, generally ranging between 10 and 12.3 centimeters,and of medium diameter, generally averaging between 5.8 and 6.8centimeters. The ratio of length to diameter is about 1.77. The averageweight is in the range of 200 to 320 grams.

The length of the fruit stalk, up to the first node, is medium to short,about 12 mm. The stalk is positioned obliquely in the fruit, and mostfruit of this variety is slightly curved-in opposite the stem.

The mature fruit has a very thin, somewhat glossy, light green skin, ofcolor 147-A,B of the Yellow Green Group in The Royal HorticulturalSociety Colour Chart, with non-conspicuous lenticels. This is unusual ina variety of Mexican avocado since the skins of their fruit generallyturn purple on maturity.

The skin surface has a smooth texture with no blistering and no ribs.The skin is very thin and leathery, i.e., it is flexible and does notbreak into pieces, so it is easy to peel from the flesh.

The seed of the avocado is essentially almond shaped and slightly offsetat the tip. The seed cavity is of diameter between 28 and 35 mm. Theseed ranges between 50-63 mm in length, 28-35 mm in diameter and 24-33grams in weight. The seed coat is loose and the seed adheres somewhatthan to the flesh.

The flesh of the mature fruit is smooth with no discernible fibers. Thecolor of the flesh of the mature fruit near the seed is light yellow,about 4C Primrose Yellow in The Royal Horticultural Society ColourChart, varying to yellow-green adjacent the outer skin.

The flesh has a buttery texture and a nutty flavor without bitterness.It has a slight aroma and tends to blacken when exposed to air.

I claim:
 1. The new variety of avocado tree of the Mexican groupsubstantially as described and illustrated herein, being distinguishedfor its ability to produce mature fruit having light green skin and tobring this fruit to maturity about two weeks earlier than the fruit ofcomparable early maturing avocado varieties in the same growing area.